Claiming The Name
by Higuchimon
Summary: [one-shot, Yu-Gi-Oh Pairings Challenge Season 2, Round 6, Seto x Yami no Bakura/Yami no Bakura x Seto, Antagoshipping, au: independent bodies post-canon] To name someone is to know them. But before Kaiba can know this person, he has to name them.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters presented here and am not making any profit off of this whatsoever.  
**Title:** Claiming The Name  
**Word Count:** 7,444  
**Rated:** PG-13  
**Romance:** Yami no Bakura x Kaiba Seto  
**Notes:** This is set a few years after the Ceremonial Duel and was written for the second season of the Yu-Gi-Oh Pairings Challenge. Comments and criticism gratefully accepted.  
**Summary:** To name someone is to know them. But before Kaiba can know this person, he has to name them.

* * *

The security tapes didn't show anything. Kaiba clenched the pen more and more tightly as he stared at them over and over again. No matter how often he watched, nothing changed. There simply _was_ no way for someone to have evaded the security system, but someone had. They'd done more than that, they'd _stolen_ from KaibaCorp. Admittedly, it wasn't something very important, but the magnitude of the theft wasn't what irked him. He wanted to know just who had done this in the first place.

For one thing, if they could get past his security, he wanted to offer them a job. They'd shown that he needed to work on several things. That was assuming they didn't infuriate him enough to have them conveniently vanish.

But why was the real question. If someone were this good, they could certain steal objects of much greater value than a few reams of paper and several dozen pens. There were valuable and rare cards being programmed into the holographic system every day, and the specs of that system were all but irreplaceable as well. Not to mention the safe in his personal office held a reasonable amount of petty cash that a thief might find attractive.

He placed the pen down carefully, recalling before he broke it that it had been a gag gift from Mokuba on his last birthday. His brother would understand the stress that might lead to breaking it, but he still didn't want to do it.

The whos and the whys of who was doing this turned over and over in his mind. The paper was of the highest quality, because he would have nothing less available, and likewise for the pens. But such items could be purchased, if for high prices, from many stationary stores. What was stolen didn't even have the KaibaCorp label on it.

Kaiba turned off the security tapes he'd been reviewing. They weren't doing any good and were just wasting his time. He would also have to think about replacing the security staff. None of them had been able to give him anything more than a 'we thought we saw something but by the time we got there to look, there wasn't anything there' when he asked what they'd seen with their own eyes. Incompetence irritated him.

Despite that, there was a small, almost unnoticeable, sensation of pleasure at the thought of having a real mystery on his hands. He couldn't remember the last time there had been something like that to deal with. Had it actually been Battle City the last time there had been anything like a _puzzle_ for him to solve? And that had been only a minor one: finding out who else had the God Cards and figuring out what strategy would lead him to acquiring all three for himself.

Five years. It had been _five years_ since all of that had ended. At least he didn't have two Yuugis to think about anymore. He had one Mutou Yuugi and one Mutou Atemu who cropped up at tournaments and gave him a challenge. He still hadn't been able to beat _either_ of them, as much as he would like to. The two of them were the only ones who could make him actually enjoy dueling.

He had no intentions of ever telling them that either.

A glance at the clock showed that the work day was nearly over. It couldn't come too soon for him. He'd finished nearly everything that needed to be done, and he looked forward to relaxing at the mansion that evening. He wanted to go over some of his strategies, and do a little more research into improving them with some of the cards that Industrial Illusions had released with their last expansion pack.

Perhaps he could also come up with some reason why this person was stealing such inconsequential items as well. Mokuba might have some insights once they had time to relax together. The two of them really did work best as a team, after all.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, letting his mind relax for a few seconds. He had other things to deal with than a petty thief right now. There still remained an hour until the day was done, and he could afford to let those last few items wait a few more minutes.

Fingers, light and teasing, brushed across his cheeks and down his lips. He froze, and in the single heartbeat before he could open his eyes, a blindfold came down over them and was quickly tied. Then hands pushed him harder against the chair, and he was aware of someone moving behind him. They seized his wrists and yanked them behind him. Harsh ropes were wound around them, keeping him restrained to the chair, then the person moved around to his front again.

"Hello there, Kaiba." The voice was vaguely familiar. He had heard it before, he was certain of that. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." He had never before heard a voice sound _that_ insincere. Whoever this was didn't care if they were interrupting or not.

"Who are you? What do you think you're doing?" He pulled at the ropes as hard as he could, but whoever had tied him knew what they were doing. This was _not_ what he wanted to spend his last hour before going home doing!

He jerked and struggled even harder as once again the fingers returned to touch him. "I think you know me. We've met, of course. I think you were rather busy glaring at the Pharaoh the last time, and I didn't want any of them knowing I was still around. But we've met before that. You just didn't know it was me you were watching."

Kaiba tried to figure out what kind of madness this person was spouting. "Just say your name!"

An amused laugh was his answer. "No." One finger caressed briefly across his lips over and over again. He considered snapping at it and seeing if he could break it. Perhaps that would teach this person better manners.

Before he had the chance, the finger was gone, and something else had replaced it, something that he couldn't exactly break with his teeth. It was, after all, a little difficult to do that to a pair of lips that fastened on his and sucked at them as if in an attempt to draw the very breath of life out from him.

He was being kissed. Kaiba could grasp many things, up to and including spirits from three thousand years earlier being sealed into items of gold and then being restored to life. But the fact that someone he could not see was doing it was just a little outside of his experience.

The other's tongue forced it's way past his lips and a hand closed firmly on his jaw, prying it down just enough so that the intruding tongue could dart into his mouth. If he'd been able to, he really would have snapped his teeth together then, and damn any consequences. But the hand kept too tight of a grip, and after a few scattered seconds, the tongue and hand both were gone.

"Not bad." He chuckled darkly. "I'll expect better later."

Kaiba Seto had hated many people during the course of his life. Atemu and Yuugi had been tied for top of the list for the last few years. They'd just been knocked down to second place with those few simple words.

"Later? You expect me to let you do this to me again?" He hissed the words out and pulled again. He thought he could feel the ropes weakening some, and tried even harder.

"Of course not." Sheer contempt flavored the words, as well as a few flecks of humor. "I don't ever want you to just _let_ me do anything, Kaiba." Hands came down firmly on his shoulders, and then there was a weight on his thighs as someone sat down on him. The other leaned in more closely, and Kaiba could feel warm breath in one ear. "It's so _annoying_ when the prey just gives in and lets the predator do whatever they want. Don't annoy me, Kaiba."

His mind raced; where had he seen this person? Or heard them? The voice did sound familiar, but _where_? When? How? His thoughts went wild again as his ear was tongued tauntingly. How in the world could he keep thinking coherently if this kept happening?

That had to be what his assaulter wanted. Everything he did, everything he said, was just something to keep Kaiba off balance so he couldn't be identified. There was absolutely no way that Kaiba would let him get away with this, either. He would find out who he was. He wouldn't need anything but his own resources and his own brain to do it.

One hand ran from the top of his shirt to the bottom, landing firmly on the top of his pants. Kaiba caught his breath without realizing it as those fingers began to work a little at the fastenings. Before he could even begin to protest, the stranger stopped. "No. Not yet."

_Not yet?_ The words swirled in Kaiba's mind. He couldn't seem to quite get enough air suddenly, not even when the pressure on him lessened and the stranger stood up.

There had been few times in his life when Kaiba hadn't known what to say or do, no matter the situation. It might not have been the right thing or the nice thing, but he'd still always known _what_ to say. This time was different. He could scarcely recall how to stand up, though he didn't have to. That kiss, those touches, had stolen every scrap of rational thought. He didn't know why and he did _not_ like it in the slightest.

The stranger's strong hand caught his chin again, and this time tilted it back. If it hadn't been for the blindfold, they would have been looking directly into each other. "Three requirements, if you want more, Kaiba." Now only one finger held his chin. "First, you have to want it. You have to want _me_." A second finger joined the first. "Second, you have to ask me for it when you do want it. I won't do anything else unless you want it and ask me for it." The third finger slid along his chin. "Third, you have to ask me using my _name_."

"Why?" He managed to gasp the word out, still not without proper air in his lungs. This was _insane_! How could this even be happening?

The other chuckled. "Because those are the rules of the game I've chosen to set. Desire, request, and _naming_. Names are important. My people have always believed that." He snorted briefly. "You can ask the Pharaoh about that, if you don't believe me." Those three fingers tightened about Kaiba's chin briefly at the mention of the Pharaoh. That was Atemu, as he recalled. He was very certain that this person didn't like him either.

"What other rules are there?" Kaiba asked, choking the words out as best he could given the grip on him. If this were going to be a game, then he would prove that he could win it, no matter what. He would not lose to someone else _again_.

No reply came for a few moments. At last, "This is between you and me. I have no need to involve others. I wouldn't have even come back here if I hadn't wanted you in the first place." He leaned in again, his lips brushing across Kaiba's ear. "You have one week. If all three of my requirements aren't met, then I'll leave. You'll never see me…or feel me again, as long as you live."

"What about before then?" The question fell out of Kaiba's mouth before he bothered to think about it. The other laughed briefly.

"Do you _want_ to see me before then?" Kaiba didn't answer, and the man laughed again. Neither one had but the barest traces of humor in it. "You can't see me until you call me by my name. If you did, you'd know the answer, and that would be giving away the game."

"And if I don't want to play?"

His strange visitor took his time in answering. Kaiba almost thought that he'd been left alone when the words finally came. "If you didn't want to, I wouldn't be here now." Those lips came by his own again, as softly as a butterfly's wings. "I'd say that you'd be seeing me, but you won't be. Though I will _certainly_ be seeing you."

Kaiba heard the soft sound of footsteps, then nothing else. He didn't even hear his door open or close, though he was certain it must have, as he _knew_ he was alone again. _The secretary won't have seen a thing._ He knew it without even having to ask. Someone who was good enough to get past his security and do all of this to him could certainly walk past a secretary.

There was no way that he was going to call her in here to untie him, either. It was bad enough that this had happened. He was not going to advertise it. She had orders not to come in here unless she was called anyway. He wasn't sure how much time had passed during his ordeal, but it couldn't have been that long. He started to squirm as carefully as he could, working to get his wrists untied first.

Whoever it was, they had struck with surgical precision. Physically, he was certain he would have been able to fight them. So they'd waited until he was off his guard, for just a few bare seconds, and attacked him then. Mentally, he'd been kept reeling from one second to the next, not permitting him a moment of clear thought to try to escape until they'd already left.

He was going to find out who they were, though he had no intentions of participating in this insane game of theirs. He was not the kind of person who enjoyed giving up control to someone else, no matter what they might think. He was _not_ going to just tamely submit to whatever it was that the stranger wanted.

The harder he worked, the more the ropes loosened, and finally they slithered off of his wrists, falling to the floor. He yanked the blindfold off, then tossed both rope and blindfold into a drawer that only he had the key to. The clock told him that the whole insane episode had taken under fifteen minutes. There were still forty-five left in the work day.

_Who cares._ He straightened himself up the best that he could and gathered up everything he needed to take home with him before stalking out the door. "I'm going home, Maeda. Have the limo brought around front."

He didn't need to make any explanations to anyone about why he chose to leave early. He might consider telling something to Mokuba, but he had yet to figure out what that might be. As much as he loved his brother, he didn't think he wanted to let him know the _real_ truth. Perhaps he'd just say he wanted to leave early. It wouldn't be the first time that he'd done it. It _was_ a rather pleasant spring day, and the thought of spending some of it in the gardens at the mansion was very interesting, the more he thought about it.

_But who was he?_ The thought wandered through his mind and he tried not to keep his focus on it too much. The hands hadn't felt even remotely familiar. He knew he didn't know the lips. But the voice, what had been said…all of that _did_ point to the fact they'd met before. In fact, he'd as much as said if Kaiba saw him, he'd know who he was.

So that meant that they did know each other well enough so that Kaiba would recognize him on sight. There were few people he knew well enough for that who he didn't also know by voice. Most of them were Yuugi's friends. He refused to think of them as _his_ friends, no matter what had happened in the past. It wasn't that he needed or didn't need friends. He simply had no use for _them_.

With a mental wrench, he pushed the entire situation away from his mind. He would have to work a little extra the next day to make up for what he hadn't done tonight, and he had too much he already had to do to waste his time like this. He _would not_ play this little game beyond finding out who it had been, and he wouldn't even be kind enough to offer them a job as he'd once thought. He hadn't yet decided what he would do. It wasn't going to be this strange game that the visitor had wanted. He only wanted their name so he'd know what to have carved on their tombstone if he was touched again without his permission.

* * *

Three long days had passed since the event in his office. Kaiba had thrown himself into his work with a deep passion, not only making up for the time he'd lost that first day, but getting ahead of himself. He hadn't mentioned a word to Mokuba about what had happened. He'd only let his brother assume that the pleasant weather had encouraged him to take a brief drive around town before coming to pick him up from school.

Warm spring weather had indeed held, and perhaps it wasn't all that bad that he'd deceived Mokuba like that. It meant that when he really did take a brief vacation into one of the parks near the KaibaCorp office building, no one would think it _too_ strange. If they did, well, he was the boss. He had to answer to no one.

"Really, Kaiba, I'd start to think you don't want to play." That voice. Kaiba froze where he was, his fingers halting from where they'd been going across his laptop keys. It came from the tree above him, and he tilted his screen back just a little, hoping for some kind of a reflection, no matter how distorted. If he could get a clue…

"I don't." He spoke it calmly. "I have no interest in this game of yours."

"Really?" The other was quite amused. "That's not what I know of you. You want to know who I am."

"That's all. Everything else you offered, I have no interest in." He twitched the laptop just a little more. He thought he could see something in it, but it was hard to tell. Whoever it was, they were very good at hiding.

Again that same laugh. It was familiar, he was certain of it. _Battle City?_ Yes. That was where he'd heard it. But he'd met a lot of maniacs during that tournament. How could he figure out which one of them this person was?

"What makes you think you're interested in _me_?" Kaiba was under no illusions about how loveable or desirable he was. His bank account and he supposed what some might consider good looks had drawn in more than one person thinking that he needed them to 'warm him up'. He'd taught them all differently. One or two had never been seen again: the ones who had tried to get too close even after his original explanation. That wasn't his fault, of course. They knew what they were getting into by approaching him.

He'd almost expected the fingers going almost delicately through his hair from above. He didn't necessarily expect another hand going to close his laptop. "First, you can't get a good enough look at me with that, so don't try. Second, I _know_ I'm interested in you." Kaiba refused to sigh with pleasure as those talented fingers brushed across the back of his neck. He could hear the slight brush as the other dropped out of the tree and stood behind them, and tensed for the briefest of moments. He didn't stop to think about the plan, only whirled as quickly as possible, wanting to see who it was face to face.

There was only the slightest glimpse of someone who was a few inches shorter than he was. A heartbeat later, both of the other's hands were clamped over his eyes, preventing him from seeing anything else. "Not bad." There was that damnable laugh again. "But you don't get to find out who I am that easily."

Kaiba said nothing. Anything he _could_ have said wouldn't have been coherent, so he didn't bother. The other walked around behind him, keeping those hands over Kaiba's eyes the whole time, then one was removed. Kaiba still couldn't see all that much, and his fury only grew and grew with each passing second. How _dare_ this person, whoever they were, do this to him!

He was also not very surprised when another blindfold was tied around his eyes. "Why do you keep doing this?"

"You already know what you need to know to find that out." Kaiba had an appreciation for puzzles, riddles, and conundrums. He wouldn't have been the gamer he was without that appreciation. But he was fast getting tired of this. "The only way to see me is to name me first. Figure that out and you're one step closer to getting what we want."

One arm closed around Kaiba's stomach and he was tugged tightly against a warm body. He was close enough to feel the muscles as well, then bit back a gasp as the arm slid under his shirt again. "I thought…" Exactly what he thought he couldn't put into words, but the other appeared to know regardless.

"I said not then. Then isn't now. And this isn't that." Kaiba had very seldom had anyone else touch him in anything that even vaguely resembled the way _both_ of the stranger's hands were wandering under his shirt. Then the hands were gone, and he was turned around quickly and pushed back down against the tree. The same body that had been perched on his lap at the office those days earlier was now leaning against him. Again he was kissed.

Something a little different happened this time, and Kaiba could not have said for the life of him why. He began to kiss back. Not in a gentle or feeling kind of way. Perhaps somewhere swirling in the depths of him was the hope if he showed this invader how much he didn't want this, he'd be left alone. But be that as it may, he leaned closer, the best that he could, and kissed in the harshest way that he possibly could.

Whatever hopes he may have had, the stranger only began to push his tongue within Kaiba's mouth, which dropped open without even having to be forced this time. Kaiba, who prided himself on his rationalism and logic, told himself with what scraps of sanity remained under his control that if he had to play this game, then he would win it. This was a step on the path to winning.

He was glad that he'd chosen a part of the park where no one was likely to come along looking for him. The kiss led to more kisses, the touches led to more touches, and the last thing that he wanted at the moment was for anyone to come along and see him with someone, whoever it was, on top of him, and his coat and shirt tossed casually into the nearest bushes while he yanked and tugged at the shirt the other wore, aching to get to _that_ skin, to touch it as he was being touched.

_Anything to win. If I could kill to win once before, then I can do this to win now._ He didn't think anything that was quite that coherent, but if someone had distilled what was going through his mind, it could have been something like that.

He gasped in a mixture of anger and frustration when his hands were pinned above him by a quick movement and a few quick ties of a rope of some type. "What are you doing?"

"Do you want me to do it?" The voice was in his ear, the breath as warm as could be, and the question sent chills all through him. There was no question about it. Regardless of his reasons, he _did_ want it.

_You have to want it._ The words echoed in his mind and he recalled the game they were supposedly playing with crystal clarity. He teetered on the balance. He wanted it, he had no idea of why, but he did. He wanted this stranger, and he wanted to know why he did. They had done everything they could to shock and scare him, to keep him off balance and unable to think clearly whenever the two of them were together.

"Yes." He uttered the word in as much confidence as he could, which was really much more than he'd expected before he spoke. It didn't matter that this person was trying to scare him senseless at every opportunity. The danger, odd as it was, _appealed_ to him. He'd always loved games that walked the edge of life and death, and this was only another facet of that.

Had he found someone who could match him in that? Atemu and Yuugi had come close, but neither of them had been interested in _this_. He had never known _he_ was interested in this kind of danger until he'd been exposed to it.

He should know everything about himself. He was Kaiba Seto. He'd always thought that he simply hadn't been interested in the kinds of pleasures that two people could bring one another. Now he knew differently, with the way hot breath steamed across his flesh and clever and skilled hands danced over his body, bringing him a mixture of torment and delight. This wasn't the vapid sort of thing he could have expected from anyone else he knew. If this was love or even desire or something as base and basic as lust, it wasn't what _anyone_ he knew could've offered him. Except this one nameless person.

_I know him. He knows me._ Almost everyone he knew was discarded as those lips skimmed across his and then worked downwards. _Ishtar?_ No. As dark as the Egyptian could be and had been, this was not him. Kaiba had heard through the duelist grapevine that he was involved with someone anyway. Reports varied on just who it was, but Kaiba was positive this was not him. Atemu might have been a second choice, but with the contemptuous way that the voice had spoken of him, he knew that wasn't true.

Warm brown eyes danced in his mind's vision for a moment, then were replaced by icy ones a few shades lighter. He knew those eyes. He had never really seen them turned towards himself, but he knew them anyway. Every time he thought the name that belonged to those eyes came close enough to him for him to speak it, it slipped away again, sent scattering by the owner of the name's touches and caresses.

Between one moment and the next, the hands and lips were gone, though the other remained. He simply stood, and Kaiba felt he was being looked down upon. He heard, rather than saw, the smug smile on those lips that had been so close to him moments before.

"Two down. One to go. Can you name me yet?" Kaiba wasn't entirely certain he could name _himself_ at this moment. After a few moments filled only with great intakes of breath as he attempted to get his mind to function properly, the other chuckled just a touch. "I didn't think so. Four days, Kaiba, and then the game is over and done, and I'm gone. If you really want this and aren't lying to yourself, then find out who I am."

Soft footsteps started to leave, then came back to him. The other bent down near where his bound hands were, and Kaiba felt something being placed just at the edge of his reach. He probably _could_ reach it, it would simply be a struggle. "There. Now you have a clue." The other dropped a deep farewell kiss on his lips, and then was gone as quickly as a fluttering shadow.

Kaiba tried again to catch his breath. Once he was certain he _could_ breathe again, he flexed his fingers until they brushed against the item there. It took him a moment or two to realize what it was: a knife. How could _that_ be a clue? No matter, it was also an assist at the moment. He managed to wiggle it into his hand, almost losing it once or twice as it slid off one side or the other. Once he had it, he carefully twisted it around until he could saw at the ropes binding him. They weren't even as tight as they'd been last time, though he wasn't sure if that was because of the stranger's intent or if he'd just squirmed more than he had then.

Free again, he gathered up his scattered clothes and sorted himself out. In moments, he doubted anyone could have told that anything unusual had been going on here at all. That was just the way he wanted it.

He checked the time and frowned ever so slightly. It was a bit later than he would have liked it to be. Mokuba wouldn't be out of school for a while yet still, but he hadn't meant to spend this much time out of the office, even if he had spent at least some of his time working. He wasn't really _behind_, he just preferred to be there at least part of his day.

He tried to tell himself that he wasn't looking for anyone in particular as he started back to the more populated areas of the park. He'd hidden the knife in his briefcase, after a casual look at it. There was nothing unusual about the make of it, at least nothing that had caught his eye. It was simply a knife, strong and with a sharp edge. He'd been lucky that he hadn't sliced himself open getting it into his hand.

_A clue. A clue to him?_ Whoever he was, he did know how to get into Kaiba's head and intrigue him enough to make him overturn his previous desire to ignore this game. If it hadn't been for something this confusing, he might have still paid no attention to the newfound desires tantalizing him.

What could a knife mean? He knew no one who had used any kind of edged weapons on a regular basis. There weren't even enough knife-type cards in Duel Monsters to make that a clue.

Why hadn't they used a card, if they wanted to let him know who they were? Cards could identify a duelist quicker than anything. He certainly would expect someone to recognize him by his Blue Eyes, or Atemu by the Black Magician. _Because it wouldn't be hard that way._ He doubted there were few duelists he couldn't recognize right away by their signature cards. If this person had one, then Kaiba wouldn't be trying to find out who they were, and the game would have ended far too quickly.

Something about a knife did tickle at the back of his mind, and it wanted to go along with those icy brown eyes he recalled. It linked to Battle City as well. There was a link between them all and he fought to recall everything he could about those days and those people.

He'd already eliminated the Ishtars, and he struck Kujaku Mai off the list with a mental flick of his hand. Her body was undeniably female, and the one that had been tormenting him was just as undeniably male. Yuugi and Atemu were also off the list. That left two. Jounouchi Katsuya was one of them.

Kaiba laughed out loud at the very thought of _him_ being the one who was slowly wrapping himself around Kaiba's life. Jounouchi didn't have that kind of edge to him. He had _an_ edge, but not this one. There was no way he'd identify himself with a knife, much less have the nerve to tie up and blindfold Kaiba once, much less twice.

That left the other. Kaiba tried to recall his name, but it kept slipping away from him. _Not surprised. That one blends into the background better than a chameleon._ Kaiba all but snorted to himself. He'd been in a _tournament_ with the wallflower, but couldn't remember his name.

Though, he didn't think he would have been able to forget someone like him. Not if this person had the nerve to do what had been done to him on two separate occasions.

Another memory worked into his mind: a flash of gold, worked in much the same fashion as that Millennium Puzzle of Yuugi's. It was shaped differently, though it had the same decoration, that eye that they all had.

Now if all of these flickers of memory would just give him a _name_ that he could use, it might actually have been worth having them!

* * *

The next few days crept by with yet again nothing being heard from the stranger. Kaiba knew he was on the verge of finding his name, even without that. He at least suspected it. It had been easy to look up the records of Battle City and find out the one name that he couldn't remember.

Unfortunately, Bakura Ryou was _not_ the person who kept coming to him. Kaiba watched him for two days, and there was nothing that even remotely resembled his fierce…well, Kaiba didn't want to call him a _lover_ when they hadn't made love yet, and 'boyfriend' was completely the wrong term to start with.

_Thief._ The word situated itself, and he decided that was it. There was nothing that caused Bakura Ryou and his fierce thief to have any resemblance whatsoever.

But on the other hand, Bakura did have the same eyes he kept thinking of, and the recordings of Battle City clearly showed him wearing the Millennium Ring during his duel with Atemu…or Yuugi. Or both. He still hadn't figured out how to refer to them in those days, and put it aside. It was something he'd worry at later.

Though, the person who had done most of the dueling _did_ have the right kind of attitude. Kaiba watched and rewatched the duel, virtually from the start up until Osiris had been ordered to attack. That was when things had turned rather strange, and he didn't pay attention to that. He simply wanted to see if he could figure out what was going on.

_He had an other._ That was easy to figure after the first couple of times he watched. He hadn't noticed it before simply because he hadn't noticed _Bakura_ himself before. But now, he could see it. All of Yuugi's little coterie appeared to have known about it as well, and if their reactions in this recording were any indication, they didn't like him.

Kaiba's lips twitched softly. That was yet another point in Bakura's Other's favor. Murdering all of Yuugi's friends in their sleep, or awake for that matter, didn't occupy his time, but he was much happier when they lived their own lives and let him live his. Thankfully, they were far more inclined to do that these days than they'd been back in high school.

But now, that Other intrigued him. With all of that Millennium Item botheration out of the way, he suspected that the Other was no more dependant on Bakura for a bodily form than Atemu was on Yuugi any longer. _I don't think they know he's around, either._ For one thing, those employees of his who had been tracking Bakura Ryou and whoever of the others he came in contact with hadn't reported anything unusual such as two Bakuras.

That certainly pleased Kaiba. It had been annoying enough _dueling_ two people in one body. Having to have a relationship like that would have destroyed any sanity that he'd had left.

But he still didn't know the Other's name. _It can't be Bakura Ryou. Atemu had a different name, and he's not like Malik and that insane fragment of __**his**__ mind._ He tapped his fingers thoughtfully against the side of his laptop. If Atemu had come from Ancient Egypt, and all reports and his own observations had proven this to be true, then perhaps Bakura's Other also had come from there. A few moments of research gave a truly _impressive_ list of common male names of the time.

As much as he skimmed through them, none of them even came close to being right. It made no rational sense, but then neither had been able to being read the writing on the Winged Dragon of Ra, and he knew he'd been able to do that easily.

Annoyed, he pulled out the knife from where he kept it hid near him at all times and stared at it intently. Just what the Other had meant by it being a clue still eluded him. He toyed with the tip briefly before putting it away again and picking up the file he'd demanded on Bakura Ryou. He'd read through it a round dozen times already and nothing gave him the perfect clue he needed.

This time, his eyes fell on something he'd read but had paid no attention to before now. Perhaps it was because he had been thinking of the knife, but regardless, he noticed it. _He has a scar on his arm, that looks to have been made by a knife._ He nodded slowly to himself, recalling how weak Bakura had seemed in the later parts of his duel.

_Wait._ He replayed that duel and this time let it go all the way through. When Bakura sank to his knees in weakness, he clutched at his arm, just where the scar he had now was. If that was the wound…he rechecked the medical report, and frowned. _It was self-inflicted. The angle and the depth make it obvious. He did that to himself._

No. Kaiba shook his head. His _Other_ had done it to him. And that still didn't help him figure out the name he needed to know.

He turned the recording back a few minutes, then froze it at a point when he _knew_ the Other Bakura was in control. He stared at it intently. _Yes. That's him._ Psychotic. Furious in a gloriously beautiful way.

Kaiba could feel himself smiling just a little as he stared at that face. He had to know the name. Everything in him demanded it, and he _knew_ that he knew it, if he could only acknowledge it. He closed his eyes for a few moments, trying to figure it out. For long moments, nothing came. He drifted within himself, seeing nothing and knowing nothing but the search for a name that wasn't his, but that he knew anyway.

An eternity later, deep in the same part of his soul where a white dragon screamed in fury, a name whispered itself to him. There was no sense in it, but he knew it was true all the same.

Today was the last day. It was late at KaibaCorp, and he knew he was the only person there. He'd told Mokuba that he had a few things he wanted to finish, but he'd be home later that night and not to wait up for him. He highly doubted Mokuba was going to listen to him. He wouldn't have himself if their positions were reversed.

He knew he was the only one in the building. He'd checked the security monitors plenty of times to be certain. But that sudden feeling that _someone_ else was there came anyway, and he smiled ferally. He knew who it was. This time he could name them. He waited anyway.

"Tonight's the night. The last night." The voice came from behind him, and two very familiar hands were placed on his shoulders. "Two out of three, Kaiba Seto. Can you make it three for three?"

"Yes." Seto didn't even attempt to look around. He knew the game's rules. "But I want to know how you're here. Everything I gathered from them indicated that you weren't coming back. Not like him."

A kind of amused cough came from the other. "They don't know everything. Let's say that I was able to make a bargain with someone." Fingers traced across his neck in delicate patterns that sent chills of pleasure down his spine and deeper within him. "You are that bargain's fulfillment. Three times I could come to you, with three conditions to be accomplished before I could stay with you."

"Why?" The word encompassed everything that he had wanted to know in the last week.

"You don't need to know some of it." The tone of the Other's voice made it plain he was _not_ going to agree, no matter what. "None of them believed that I could do it. There were other options, but you were the one I wanted the most." Again, a laugh of sorts. "I shouldn't have, not after everything that happened. I should hate you as much as I hate the Pharaoh."

Lips brushed across the back of Kaiba's neck. "Tell me my name." There was no trace of begging in the voice. "End the game."

Kaiba took a long, quiet breath. If he didn't do this, then he would never see this Other again, no matter what. He might even be tormented by having to occasionally cross paths with Bakura Ryou, who was like and unlike him in ways that would never completely be understood. _I want this. I want him._ He hadn't ever thought his emotions and his interest could be captured so relatively quickly. But what was, was. "Your name is Bakura. You _were_ the King of Thieves in Egypt. You _were_ Bakura Ryou's Other, the Spirit of the Millennium Ring."

He slowly turned, and this time, he wasn't stopped, this time, nothing came to cover his eyes. There behind him stood the Dark Bakura, the Other One. What he wore made no difference to Kaiba. What made a difference was the look in those chilly brown eyes, and something that may have been a smile on his lips.

He stood up, noticing he was right, he _was_ taller than Bakura, and in a moment he had pulled the other…Bakura…into his arms. Their lips sealed themselves to one another, and Bakura's arms went around him, and the heat that boiled between them should have turned the oceans to dust and transformed the jungles into deserts.

When they parted, Kaiba finished what he had to say. "You were that. But now you're Bakura. Just Bakura."

Bakura smirked, as wickedly as he ever had when threatening a life, and started to push Kaiba back onto his desk. "What I am is ready to actually start _living_." The smirk widened, more feral and more intimidating than many people could stand. Kaiba had seldom seen something so beautiful in his life. "I do hope that mansion of yours is big enough for me."

Kaiba pulled him down closer. "I don't think you're going to have any complaints." He was very certain that _he_ wouldn't. He might have to start a few more searches for important things, such as his wallet or his pants, but he was willing to accommodate for what Bakura would provide in return. Then something else crossed his mind. It wasn't exactly a mood-killer, but he wanted an answer, at least. "You did steal those papers last week, didn't you?"

"It got you thinking about thieves. I was able to use that to come to you." Bakura began to nip at Kaiba's neck, and the brunet groaned for a moment before he began to work at Bakura's shirt, wanting underneath it, wanting everything that had been teased and offered for seven days and was now his forever.

As they sank into one another's embrace, Kaiba murmured softly in Bakura's ear, "I won the game."

Bakura grinned at him, brown eyes slightly shaded with a mixture of triumph and lust. "No. I did."

For once in his life, Kaiba decided not to argue over it.

**The End**


End file.
